Elevating mechanism for overhead doors



Jan. 13, 1953 J. D. MCFADDEN 2,625,390

ELEVATING MECHANISM FOR OVERHEAD DOORS Filed Aug. 16, 1948 2 SHEETS- SHEET l BY viwm Jan. 13, 1953 J. D. MCFADDEN ELEVATING MECHANISM FOR OVERHEAD DOORS 2 Sl-IEETS---SHEE'-II 2 Filed Aug. 16, 1948 INVENTOR.

John D. McFadden .lill l Patented Jan. 13, 1953 UNITED :STATE 'ELEVATING MEcnANisM roe love-anual) nouns John-DfMcF-adden, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Application August 16, 1948, Serial No. i4-,485

Ll'Claiinnis. -1

This invention relates generally to doors and more particularly to a door of sliding type, such as are used in garages, and means to propel the door in two directions.

In brief, this invention includes means to move a member such as a sliding garage door, either horizontally or vertically into an overhead `po sition, and to forcibly return the door to its original position. A cylinder with a piston and piston rod is used to propel a trolley along 'a track and this trolley carries a pair of pulleys through which the vcables are entrained and the ends of the cables are secured to fixed structure land vtoopposite ends of the door in such a Inanner that movement of the trolley will 'force the door in either direction. The invention includes, pf course, lmeans to provide lfluid under pressure 'to the said cylinder, at either end thereof so that 'a double acting piston in the cylinder will be driven in two directions so 'as vto actuate the trolley.

PThe primary object of this invention is to 'provide means for opening and closing doors and the like quickly and positively, and to lock such doors in fully closed, v'fully open or partially open positions.

Another object of this invention is to provide 'a door controlling means which makes the operation of garage doors and the like very safe, the positive control of the door by the 'apparatus proposed by the instant invention preventing ac- 'cidents which frequently occur due to the slamining and falling of hinged and gravity "actuated doors.

Still another object of this invention, of Aa spe- 'cifi'c nature, is to provide means whereby jamor inadvertent locking of 'a garage door in 1an unwanted position is prevented.

And a last object to be mentioned specifically is to provide means of the character mentioned above which is relatively v-im'expensive and practicable to manufacture, easy and simple, as well as completely safe, to operate 'and which 'will give generally eicient and durable service.

`With these objects definitely in View, together with other objects which will appear hereinafter as this description proceeds, this invention resides in certain novel features of construction. combination and arrangement of elements and. portions as will be hereinafter described in the specification, particularly pointed out in the appended claims, 'and illustrated in the accompanying drawings -which form a material pant of this apilcation, and "in which:

El'gure l is :ja vertical eletti. nal view if Se -2 tion of a garage, doorway and garage door and showing this invention incorporated therewith and illustrated in elevation;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional viewof the track and'cylindcr and contiguous structure including the trolley;

Figures 3 and l l are transverse vertical sectional views, taken on the section lines 3 and 4 in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a similar view taken on the section line 5-5 of Figure 2;

rFigure 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line `-'t in Figure l. v

Similar characters of reference indicate similar or identical elements and portions throughout the specification and throughout the several views in the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, this invention is adapted to be used with an environment which is illustrated as an automobile garage having a front wall It with a doorway I2 therein and a roof structure indicated at I4. It will be understood that the illustrated garage is included in the `drawings only by way of eXemplii-lcaticn of suitable environment for this invention, and it should be stressed that the hereinafter described construction may be used with a door which *slides horizontally, or with aj door which is rigid rather than sectionalized, -all without material alteration in the structure ofthe elements de.- scribed in this specification. ARelocation of the means `to guide the door and certain ofthe means used to guide the cables will, of course, be 4neces-- sitated when this invention is used with a door which slides along a horizontal path. Y

Figure 1 illustrates a door IS which is `corn-- p-rised of a plurality of sections having hinges 2l) including hinge pins '22 which may be used, with or without rollers, to guide the door along `a track 24, illustrated as of the characterordinarily located at each side of the door IB and curved at the top so thatI a horizontalV portion of the track lextends overhead for support of 4the door in open position.

A cylinder 28 and a trolley trac-k Sil are supported by any suitable mear-1s illustrated by the bracket devices32 and 34, these bracket l difke'vices being suspended on the roof I4 inthe illustrated embodiment of this invention. The cylinder 2'8 is provided with a double acting piston E of any suitable design and a Aimelattively long piston rod 35. .The piston rod 36 is connected', as by .means of a horizontally extending portion 3,1, to a four Wheel trolley generally; ,rat-ed at 'The wheels n ler the trolley se filiation as anti-friction means and guide means for the main carriage portion of the trolley and a depending arm of the trolley 44 extends between the rail portions 42 of the track 30 and is hinged to a fork 45 which carries a pair of pulleys 48.

The means to drive the trolley 38 will now be mentioned. A motor 58 drives a compressor 52 which is connected through a valve 54 to a pair of pipes 56 leading to a pair of reservoir tanks 58. A pair of pipes 68 connect the ends of the cylinder 28 with the reservoirs 58, each pipe 68 having a portion 62 depending into the lower portion of the corresponding reservoir 58, as best illustrated in Figure 6. The reservoirs 5S will be partially filled with liquid such as a suitable oil and the cylinder 28 will be completely filled with the same liquid, While the compressor 52 will supply air under pressure selectively to the upper portions of the reservoirs 58 forcing the liquid into either end of the cylinder 28, according to the manual disposition of the valve 54. An exhaust pipe 64 will be connected to the valve 54 so that air may be exhausted from one of the reservoirs 58 while air is being forced into the other reservoir, the exact construction of the i valve means 54 being thought unnecessary to illustrate in this application. It is preferred that the exhaust pipe 64 should extend from the valve through the roof of the garage, as indicated in Figure l.

One flexible cable 66 is connected to the bottom of the door I5, as indicated at 68, the cable being extended upwardly parallel to the door in closed position and entrained over a pulley 18 mounted on the bracket 34, thence and one of the pulleys 48 and returned around still another pulley 't2 which is illustrated as mounted upon the bracket 34, and nally secured to a coiled spring 'I4 having one end xed to adjacent structure such as the front wall I8 of the garage.

A second cable l'B has one end secured to an angularly disposed arm 18 on the upper end of the door I6, and is entrained over the other of the pulleys 48 carried by the trolley 38, and secured to one end of a coiled spring 88 which has its other end secured to iixed structure such as the cylinder 28, as indicated in Figure l. It will be clear that many refinements or structure, such as the piston buffer springs 82 may be added to this invention Without departure from the spirit thereof and that the different elements may be varied considerably in form without materially altering the method of operation of this invention. The method of operation of this invention will be clearly understood from the foregoing description of the mechanical details taken in conjunction with the drawings and the above recited objects.

Accordingly the scope of this invention should be limited only in accordance with a proper interpretation of the sub-joined claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new 1s:

l. A door operating device for moving a door frame from a vertical to a horizontal position comprising an articulated door, a pair of tracks, said tracks being disposed at each side of said door, means at the articulations of the door engaging said tracks, a portion of said track extending vertically, another portion of said track extending horizontally, a curved portion connecting said vertical and horizontal portions, a trolley track substantially parallel to said horizontal section, a trolley mounted on said trolley track, a pair of pulleys mounted 0.1.1. Said trolley,

Lli)

a flexible cable secured to the bottom of the door, a pulley supporting said cable in line with the vertical position of said door and in the path of travel of the trolley, said cable extending around one of said pulleys mounted on said trolley and being anchored in proximity to and above the vertical portion of the track, an angulated attachment secured to the top of said door, a second cable, one end of said second cable being joined to said angulated attachment, said second cable extending over another pulley on said trolley and extending in parallel relation to said trolley track, said second cable being anchored at a point adjacent -the path of travel of the trolley and beyond the limit of travel of said trolley, a resilient means connected between said second cable and the anchor point, a fluid motor for propelling said trolley along said trolley track.

2. A door opening device for an articulated door movable on a track from a vertical to a horizontal position comprising a trolley track substantially parallel to and adjacent to the horizontal position of said door, a trolley mounted on said trolley track, a pair of pulleys mounted on said trolley, a flexible cable secured to the bottom of the door, a pulley supporting said cable in line with the vertical position of said door and in the path of travel of the trolley, said cable extending around one of said pulleys mounted on said trolley and being anchored in proximity to and above the vertical portion of the track, an angulated attachment secured to the top of said door, a second cable, one end of said second cable being joined to said angulated attachment, said second cable extending over another pulley on said trolley and extending in parallel relation to said trolley track, said second cable being anchored at a point adjacent the path of travel of the trolley and beyond the limit of travel of said trolley, a resilient means connected between said second cable and the anchor point, a fluid motor for propelling said trolley along said trolley track.

3. A door opening device for an articulated door movable on a track from a vertical to a horizontal position comprising a trolley track substantially parallel to and adjacent to the horizontal position of said door, a trolley mounted on said trolley track, a pair of pulleys mounted on said trolley, a exible cable secured to the bottom of the door, a pulley supporting said cable in line with the Vertical position of said door and in the path of travel of the trolley, said cable extending around one of said pulleys mounted on said trolley land being anchored in proximity to and above the vertical portion of the track, an angulated attachment secured to the top of said door, a. second cable, one end of said second cable being joined to said angulated attachment, said second cable extending over another pulley in said trolley and extending in parallel relation to said trolley track, said second cable being anchored at a point adjacent the path of travel of the trolley and beyond the limit of travel of said trolley, a resilient means connected between said sec-ond cable and the anchor point, a double acting fluid motor` including a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, a piston rod extending from said cylinder and connected to said trolley, a source of fluid pressure and means for selectively applying fluid under pressure in either end of said cylinder.

e. A door opening device for an articulated door movable on a track'from a Vertical toa horizontal position comprising a trolley vtrack .substantially pal'llil .t9 and adjacent to the hori zontal position of said door, a trolley mounted on said trolley track, a pair of pulleys mounted on said trolley, a exible cable secured to the bottom of the door, a pulley supporting said cable in line with the vertical position oi said door and in the path of travel of the trolley, said cable extending around one of said pulleys mounted on said trolley and being anchored in proximity to and above the vertical portion of the track, an angulated attachment secured to the top of said door, a second cable, one end of said second cable being joined to said angulated attachment, said second cable extending over another pulley in said trolley and extending in parallel relation to said trolley track, said second cable being anchored at a point adjacent the path of travel of the trolley and beyond the limit of travel of said trolley, a resilient means connected between said second cable and the anchor point, a double act ing iiuid motor including a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, a piston rod extending from said cylinder and connected to said trolley, a pair of reservoirs, pipes connecting the lower portions of said reservoirs with the ends of said cylinders, an air compressor, other pipes connecting the reservoirs with said' air compressor, and valve means selectively connecting the compressor to said reservoirs and simultaneously Venting air from that reservoir not connected to said compresser.

JOHN D. MCFADDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,323,529 Haskell et al Dec. 2, 1919 1,358,859 Leach Nov. 16, 1920 1,916,651 Beeman July 4, 1933 1,954,813 Harris Apr. 17, 1934 1,981,026 Blodgett Nov. 20, 1934 2,089,700 Kidder Aug, 10, 1937 2,239,893 Jackman Apr. 29, 1941 2,330,006 Odenthal Sept. 2l, 1943 2,361,049 Larsen Oct. 24, 1944 2,371,450 Langdon Mar. 13, 1945 2,406,173 Stephens Aug. 20, 1946 

